GBA Legislative Update

Legislative Update
February 1, 2002 A review of current developments from the Georgia Bankers Association
www.gabankers.com
Realtors Seek Compromise at State Level	The Georgia Association of Realtors, the Georgia Bankers Association and the Community Bankers Association of Georgia have been working on a compromise at the state level to avoid a bloodbath over whether state-chartered banks can be authorized real estate brokerage authority. Georgia is not one of the 25 states that specifically authorizes this power; however the Department of Banking and Finance has approved one bank’s application to buy a real estate franchise under the Department’s incidental powers statute. The banking committee leadership of the General Assembly has asked the three trade associations to work out a way for this issue to be settled at the Federal level and it appears we are close to making that happen. If an agreement can be reached, the three associations will jointly petition the Banking Department to put a moratorium on the approval of future applications until the issue is resolved in Washington. In discussions with our members, we have found little interest of an affiliation with a real estate brokerage operation. The real fight on this issue is occurring at the Federal level as the Treasury and the Federal Reserve have proposed granting national banks real estate brokerage and property management authority. Long-standing policy of the Georgia Bankers Association is to seek equal powers for both nationally-chartered and state-chartered banks.

Governor to Weigh in on Predatory Lending	We are still expecting a bill to be introduced at the request of Governor Roy Barnes to address predatory lending. GBA President Joe Brannen met with the Governor late last year to brief him on the legislation passed unanimously by the Senate in the 2001 session. Since then, the Governor and his staff have met with virtually everyone interested in the issue and they are still looking at various options to attack unscrupulous lenders without harming legitimate lenders. The bill could be ready as early as next week.	Gov. Barnes

Senate Banking Committee Reports Housekeeping Bill	The Department of Banking and Finance’s annual housekeeping bill, S.B. 353, was introduced by Committee Chairman, Senator Don Cheeks. The bill addresses a number of areas of interest to bankers such as allowing the Department to assess fees via ACH transactions, share examination information with other regulators of new services banks are offering such as securities, and strengthen the Department’s policy on employee gifts and how the employees handle potential conflicts of interest when they own bank stock. The bill was reported out of the Senate Banking Committee at their meeting on Thursday.	Cheeks

Commissioner Experience	S.B. 344 by Senators Fort, Thomas and James would delete the requirement that the banking commissioner have banking or bank regulatory experience. In place of this experience requirement, the bill requires the commissioner to have experience as a consumer advocate. The bill was discussed at a meeting of the Senate Banking and Finance Committee this week and assigned to a subcommittee chaired by Sen. Casey Cagle (R-Gainesville). There seems to be little interest among the committee to change the experience requirement.	Fort

Office of Lending Compliance	H.B. 1191 by Representative Gail Buckner and cosponsored by Reps. Barnes, Dodson and Randall, was introduced this week to create the Office of Lending Compliance. The new agency would have investigative powers over consumer complaints of any sort against lenders and referral authority to relay the results of their investigation to the appropriate regulatory or law enforcement agency. The GBA has told the author we would oppose the bill as duplicative of the existing regulatory structure of the state and federal banking regulators. The bill has been referred to the House Banks and Banking Committee.	Buckner

Disposal of Records	H.B. 926 by Representatives Ashe, Martin (retired), Campbell, Skipper and Reed. Requires financial institutions and others to shred any records prior to disposal containing personal information. GBA has offered an amendment to exclude banks from the legislation as they are already covered under the privacy provisions in Gramm-Leach-Bliley. We expect the bill to be combined with the Governor’s privacy legislation and introduced later in the session. GBA monitoring.	Ashe

Delegation of Fiduciary Functions	H.B. 1135 by Representative Campbell provides that a trustee may delegate certain powers to an agent without assuming liability of the agent’s actions. Delegation of investment and management functions are authorized so that a prudent trustee of comparable skills could properly delegate under the circumstances. The bill is pending in the House Judiciary Committee. GBA supports.	Campbell

Automobile Lienholders	H.B. 1157 by Representatives Barnard and Shaw provides that in any claim involving a total loss of a vehicle which is the subject of more than one lien, the proceeds of the insurance policy will be applied to pay in full the debt owed to the senior lienholder before any proceeds of the insurance policy will be applied to any other lien on the vehicle. The bill is pending in the House Insurance Committee. GBA monitoring.	Barnard

Trust Powers	H.B. 1176 by Representatives Parrish, Bordeaux and Stallings gives competitive equity to Georgia banks who provide corporate trust services to offer their services beyond our bordering states. GBA supports.	Parrish

GBA Keeps You Informed	GBA’s Legislative Update is intended to keep you apprised of the bills that the GBA is tracking on the industry’s behalf. Subsequent issues will be mailed on alternate Fridays except when the legislature is in recess. On Fridays that the Update is not mailed, GBA’s LegisFAX will be sent via fax to all CEO’s and those interested in tracking issues on a weekly basis. The electronic version of both the Legislative Update and the LegisFAX will be sent by e-mail to those on our e-mail list. The ‘State Issues’ section of GBA Online, GBA’s home page, is linked to the website maintained by the General Assembly and assures that you will have the latest version of any bill being tracked by the GBA.

GBA’s Lobbyists at the Capitol	The lobbying team for the GBA will be at the Capitol full-time throughout the session. If you need to get in touch with any of them on a particular issue, several ways are available. Call the main number at the GBA, (404) 522-1501, or leave a message on their direct voice mail, or send them an e-mail. They will get back to you at the earliest opportunity. Joe Brannen, Direct phone, (404) 420-2026 Elizabeth Way, Direct phone, (404) 420-2027 Don Browne, Direct phone, (404) 522-1501

The electronic version of GBA's Legislative Update will be published regularly during the 2002 session of the Georgia General Assembly. Let GBA's Lydia Thomas know of others you would like to add to our distribution list.

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